Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improved gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance the entertainment value of a game is the concept of a “secondary” or “bonus” game that may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus game may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome in the basic game. Generally, bonus games provide a greater expectation of winning than the basic game and may also be accompanied with more attractive or unusual video displays and/or audio. Bonus games may additionally award players with “progressive jackpot” awards that are funded, at least in part, by a percentage of coin-in from the gaming machine or a plurality of participating gaming machines. Because the bonus game concept offers tremendous advantages in player appeal and excitement relative to other known games, and because such games are attractive to both players and operators, there is a continuing need to develop gaming machines with new types of bonus games to satisfy the demands of players and operators.
In many current wagering games, the progressive jackpot is funded in part by taking a percentage of the total coin-in received in the wagering game. After the progressive jackpot is won, the progressive jackpot will be reset to some basic level (e.g., $1,000 or $5,000). Every time a player makes a wager, a percentage of the wager is allocated to the progressive jackpot, or divided in some predetermined way among the progressive jackpots, assuming there is more than one progressive jackpot. As one example, a gaming machine manufacturer leases the machines to a gaming establishment (e.g., casino) that operates the machines. When considering the total coin-in value, in a typical arrangement, about 88% of the total coin-in is used for funding the payouts of the basic wagering games operated at the machines, about 8% of the total coin-in is returned to the gaming establishment, and about 4% is returned to the gaming machine manufacturer. To fund the progressive jackpot(s), the gaming machine manufacturer uses about 30% of its proceeds (i.e., about 1.2% of the total coin-in) for the reset value and the incremental value added to the jackpots over time as players compete for the progressive jackpot. In other lease-type arrangements, the gaming machine manufacturer receives a flat fee per machine per day (e.g., $80/day) from the gaming establishment and a smaller percentage of the total coin-in (e.g., 1.5%), which the gaming machine manufacturer uses for the funding the progressive as outlined above.
In these types of arrangements, there can be some inequity. For example, the gaming machines often present an option as to whether the player is eligible for the progressive jackpot (e.g., the player must play all the paylines, or play the maximum wager for the machine). In those situations when a player plays the wagering game without being eligible for the progressive jackpot, that player's wager is still applied in the percentages listed above, such that the player's wager is still contributing to the progressive jackpot although the player is ineligible for it. This can lead to extra funds for the gaming machine manufacturer while lowering the machine's overall payback percentage for that player. Gaming machine operators do not prefer this either because the gaming machine manufacturer may be making extra margins at their players' expense.
Thus, there is a need for a new type of a progressive game wager-input system and wager-tracking system, which takes into account additional wagers that the players make at the gaming machine to be eligible for the progressive jackpot.